China’s eight-day “Golden Week” holiday – running from October 1 to 8 and coinciding with both the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day – has sparked a surge in cross-border travel among Chinese tourists.
According to data from the Alipay platform, the top five destinations for outbound Chinese tourist spending via Alipay between October 1 and 3 were Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. Meanwhile, Greece, Laos, Nepal, Portugal and Turkey saw the fastest growth in Alipay spending by Chinese visitors.
This Golden Week, half of all outbound Chinese tourists used Alipay to make purchases overseas. The top five use cases by category were clothing, groceries, jewellery, dining, and cosmetics.
Health remains a priority for Chinese travellers. A joint report by Alipay, navigation platform Amap, and AI healthcare app AQ found that health consultations by outbound Chinese tourists via AQ during the first three days of Golden Week rose 32% compared to the previous month. The primary health issues concerning Chinese tourists include diarrhea, fever, and acclimatization problems.
AQ, the AI healthcare app developed by Ant Group, offers more than 100 AI-powered services, including doctor search, health consultations, medical report interpretation, and health assessments.
Additionally, with the expansion of visa-free entry policies, easy access to convenient payment services like Alipay, and improved tax refund services, both the number of international travellers to China and their spending are increasing.
Between October 1-5, Alipay recorded a 500% increase in payments by international travellers using Alipay Tap!, an innovative QR code-based contactless payment and customer engagement solution introduced by Alipay in China in June 2024.
Popular travel destinations such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Chengdu are upgrading instant tax refund services for international tourists, further enhancing the shopping experience for visitors. For example, Shenzhen saw a 70% increase in the number of tax refunds processed via Alipay by international travellers in the first five days of the holiday.
International travellers in China can pay at local merchants by scanning QR codes or tapping to pay with Alipay, after linking an international credit or debit card. Additionally, visitors from 12 countries and regions can pay with their home e-wallets across China, enabled by Alipay+.
